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Xenonauts: Community Edition 0.31


llunak

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Version 0.31 of Xenonauts: Community Edition has been released.


Installation (Steam users):

Installation (other users):

  • In the game launcher, use "Modding Tools" to install the base X:CE mod (it may take a while, you will get a confirmation dialog when the installation is done). Note that if you use the Xenonauts 1.5x release as a base, the newly installed mod will not show in the list, ignore this.
  • Exit the launcher.
  • Run X:CE's game executable instead of the base game's executable. It is possible to run it directly from assets/mods/xce and it is not anymore necessary to copy it anywhere (it may be useful to create a desktop shortcut to simplify accessing it though). If you do copy the .exe files, you may need to copy .dll files as well.
  • Verify in the launcher that it is the correct version.
  • Install the X:CE settings and X:CE balance mods in "Modding Tools" in the launcher. While they are not required, without them many X:CE features will not get activated.
  • If you have Skitso's map pack or Skitso's art pack mods installed, deactivate/delete them. They have been merged directly into X:CE.
  • On first game start you may get a dialog warning about X:CE mods not being activated correctly or in the correct priority order, simply confirm that you want it to be fixed automatically.

What is the relation between X:CE 0.31 and Xenonauts 1.5x?

  • Xenonauts 1.5x releases have been based on an older X:CE version than 0.31 and thus do not contain all of these features/fixes. Also some X:CE changes have intentionally not been incorporated. See Xenonauts 1.5x release announcements for details.
  • X:CE 0.31 should contain all Xenonauts 1.5x fixes and new features. There should be no advantage in switching to Xenonauts 1.5x instead of X:CE 0.31 for players who have already switched to X:CE.
  • X:CE 0.31 can read saved games from Xenonauts 1.5x, but Xenonauts 1.5x cannot read normal X:CE 0.31 saved games. Switching option saveCompatibility in assets/gameconfig.xml to "gh15x" before running X:CE 0.31 should produce saves in a format that Xenonauts 1.5x can read (keep the option as "xce" for normal play, otherwise some new X:CE 0.31 values may not be kept in save files).

Changes summary:

  • Incorporation of fixes from the Xenonauts 1.5x releases (not listed in the detailed lists below).
  • New UI for mods management from the Xenonauts 1.5x releases.
  • Skitso's map pack and art pack have been integrated into X:CE.
  • Fixes and improvements for the show-roofs ground combat function. Showing roofs should now be superior to the current default of not showing roofs and will likely become the new default in 0.32 if there are no problems reported.
  • Aliens turns should be faster.
  • Fixes to handling of victory and defeat in some ground combat mission types.
  • Game saving has been made faster (should avoid/reduce lag in Ironman games).
  • Various other fixes.

General improvements:

  • Integration of the new "Modding Tools" UI from Xenonauts 1.5x .
  • Skipping of hidden animations for faster alien turns has been enabled by default, after hopefully having been fixed in 0.30 (SkipHiddenAnimations in config.xml).
  • Make it possible to turn music/sfx completely off.
  • Implement wall transparency also for vehicles (if a vehicle is right behind a wall, the wall will get partially transparent, just like with soldiers).
  • Show/hide parts of buildings in show-roof mode in order to make soldiers/vehicles behind them visible.
  • Cursor entering/leaving buildings hides/shows insides of building in show-roof mode.
  • Aliens entering/leaving buildings and/or becoming visible in buildings hides/shows insides of buildings in show-roof mode.
  • It is possible to run X:CE's game executable directly from the mod folder, without any manual changes. This is the preferred way for non-Steam game now, instead of replacing the original game's executables. Steam game still replaces the executable in order for Steam to launch the proper executable.
  • Alien bases have amount of light from bases's light sources reduced after all power cores have been destroyed (AlienBaseBlackoutMaxRadius in config.xml).

UI:

  • Improve layout of the 'abandon mission' dialog and show to-be-left-behind living soldiers before dead ones.
  • Adjust alignment of airplane/vehicle base screens to fit adjustments made to soldier equip screen done in 0.30.
  • Hide tooltip on any mouse click/wheel action.

Balance:

  • Aliens in missions where Xenonauts do not start in a dropship have full TU available in the first turn (and not only half TU as with dropship missions).
  • Using a teleport if the other teleport tile is blocked by an enemy unit will result in that unit being telefragged. This prevents blocking off aliens on higher UFO floors. There is no change (teleporting will not happen) if the other end is blocked by a friendly unit.
  • Firing at a target now may suppress it even if the shot does not hit anywhere near it and just flies close by. This should make firegun suppression have roughly the same effect like it used to before 0.30 release made missed shots continue flying in their direction instead of hitting nearby their target.
  • Explicit short range shooting bonus has been reduced. 0.30 release made it possible to hit a target even with a slightly scattered shot, thus in reality increasing the chance to hit at a short range, making it larger than the chance shown by the firing cursor. This change reduces the realistic chance to hit to again roughly match actual accuracy as it used to be before. The percentage chance shown by the firing cursor is now the estimated chance to hit, adjusted for the possibility of close range shots hitting even if they don't hit exactly the spot aimed for.

General fixes:

  • Fixed final door in the final mission to not be indestructible if damaged.
  • Fixed teleporters in the final mission to work as described in the mission briefing.
  • Final mission cannot be safely aborted.
  • Failing to achieve the goal of the final mission is a mission failure.
  • Dead soldiers from the final missions are also recorded and counted.
  • No recovery of items/soldiers left behind in the final mission.
  • Unescaped soldiers in the final mission are missed in action.
  • No items should ever be recovered from a lost ground mission.
  • Soldiers/aliens react to fire/smoke only if it affects them.
  • Do not stop soldier movement if the soldier spots an alien that was already spotted that turn (and lost sight of again meanwhile).
  • Soldier animations should no longer be sometimes skipped.
  • Heal unconscious soldiers normally, as if they were awake, not by just 5HP per healing.
  • Do not show that it is possible to heal a vehicle.
  • Avoid crash when loading a save with a mind-controlled character.
  • Pay maintenance for items in transfer.
  • Show interceptors properly on geoscape after reload.
  • Save properly character's turns alive in save games (for zombie->reaper spawns).
  • Fix gibbed corpses to work like normal corpses (show/hide properly, etc.)
  • Characters killed in the air drop down and get a gibbed corpse instead of just exploding in the air and vanishing.
  • Prevent equipment from disappearing if a soldier cannot be equiped completely using a soldier role loadout.
  • Prevent reassigning soldiers when a dropship is out of base.
  • If aiming at ground, make it more likely that a missed shot will still hit somewhere near the aimed for place instead of hitting somewhere far off.
  • Do not possibly remove door open TU cost twice.
  • A shield at 0 HP should be already destroyed.
  • Fix handling of visibility of UFO hulls.
  • Properly sort by date in soldier memorial.
  • Fix crash on start of alien base attack.
  • Fix carrying of downed soldiers, carrying such a soldier to an abort zone and aborting now gives them a chance to be revived (similarly as if the mission has been won).
  • Psionic powers should work only soldiers that have not been stunned, escaped or similar.
  • Alien base should be properly destroyed if its power cores have been destroyed, even if the mission is otherwise a failure.
  • The game now checks and possibly fixes incorrect status of X:CE mods (such as not active, not in correct mod priority order).
  • Cursor should now always try to prefer targetting objects when firing. Use the roof-walls toggle in the GC panel if you want to explicitly target ground behind a wall or another object.
  • Fixed loading of recent GC maps when loading a geoscape save (the game should now do better at not using the same map again if there are other suitable maps available that have not yet been chosen).
  • Fixed showing of cover indicators in some cases.
  • Fixed some cases when suppression effect and explosions would spread through obstacles.
  • Improved selection of targets for missed shots, shots blocked by an obstacle should be a bit more likely to hit target's cover rather than a random obstacle in the way closer to the shooter.
  • Tab and Shift+Tab have been reassigned in default shortcuts to cycle soldiers and cycle with finishing the current soldier (i.e. the select-next-soldier actions in style of the panel buttons in the OG).
  • Game saving has been made faster (should avoid/reduce lag for Ironman games).
  • When deploying soldiers from Valkyrie, they must be deployed on the ground and cannot be deployed in the air.

Modding/mapping:

  • Skitso's map pack and art pack have been integrated into X:CE.
  • Fixed searching for game data in map editors (they should now work correctly again).
  • It is now possible to have mods provide images that will be alpha-blended onto base game image instead of replacing it. For asset/somewhere/image.png, such an image should be named assets/somewhere/image-modmerge.png . It is recommended to still provide also a non-modmerge image for older X:CE versions (or Xenonauts 1.5).
  • Fixed loading images from mods if they replace images provided by the base game in an image atlas.
  • Fix problem with loading some (mostly map) assets if they have uppercase letters in their path.
  • Add more tileset types, to allow easier creating of mods with new tileset types.

Bug reporting:

If you encounter any problem, you can report it as the X:CE bug reports forum. Please read and follow the bug reporting guidelines.


Possible future features/changes:

  • New ground combat mission types.
  • Enhanced crash sites (not to be confused with the mod, although the work may be based on it).
  • Collective alien strategies in ground missions (such as flanking, group charging or coming to the help of breached UFO defenders).
  • More challenging play on Insane difficulty.
  • More (semi-)random maps.
  • Fixes/improvements for the map editors.

These may or may not get done and are subject to change. They are listed to give a possible overview of some new improvements in future releases of X:CE.

Whether and how soon they get implemented also depends on how many contributors to X:CE there will be. Which can be also you:

  • If you would like to help improve X:CE, there are areas where it is possible to contribute without being a coder, such as fixing map problems, providing art for new features or creating maps. Feel free to ask for details.
  • If you know C++, there is the Community coder program (and do not be afraid to ask for guidance).
Edited by llunak
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I just went to the final door on the final mission to complete the game on 0.30HF1 and it got busted. Is there a way to just get the door fix and finish this game ?

EDIT: What I actually want to ask is "what is the minimal way to get the game in such a state that I can finish it". I would opt for a save game editor as the door has delayed me for 5 turns already and we know what that means :).

Edited by invultri
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I just went to the final door on the final mission to complete the game on 0.30HF1 and it got busted. Is there a way to just get the door fix and finish this game ?

EDIT: What I actually want to ask is "what is the minimal way to get the game in such a state that I can finish it". I would opt for a save game editor as the door has delayed me for 5 turns already and we know what that means :).

I'm not entirely sure, but I think saves include the incorrect door information, so it'd need loading in 0.31 a save before the final mission is started. If that can't be done for some reason (Ironman game), load the save from Xenonauts_gc_editor.exe, get the mission to the state when it's finished and press "V".

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I'm not entirely sure, but I think saves include the incorrect door information, so it'd need loading in 0.31 a save before the final mission is started. If that can't be done for some reason (Ironman game), load the save from Xenonauts_gc_editor.exe, get the mission to the state when it's finished and press "V".

Xenonauts_gc_editor.exe just gives me the launcher, anyway, I just upgraded, loaded the game, redid the mission and beat the game \o/.

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[*] Lore+ (enabled by default)

Hello,

how does one remove this mod? I prefer to play without it as it spoils the experience for me (shows info on enemies not encountered yet.). I'm a steam user with community branch. thank you.

Also I'm in a middle of a game. Should I start a new one in order to see changes?

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Which ones would those be? Lore+ should show info only on alien types already encountered.

Doesn't it show all the variants of the encountered enemies as soon as you meet the first one? If you encounter the non-combatant ceasan you will get info on the guards and the elite as well.

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Doesn't it show all the variants of the encountered enemies as soon as you meet the first one? If you encounter the non-combatant ceasan you will get info on the guards and the elite as well.

No, it's staggered. It can show some higher rank enemies as they're typically done in groups (e.g. guard and soldier together) but it doesn't give you everything at once.

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Hi Koranis.

If you remember the Lore+ thread you had previously commented in, I changed Lore+ then so that you couldn't see the higher classes without getting to those classes. The only outstanding problem is with Reapers - that's under investigation.

Cheers,

- M.

EDIT: Oh, and Lore+ never showed all the alien classes as soon as you got the first one (noncom). Your other issue with ufo missions was also altered.

Edited by Max_Caine
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Should X:CE have the new epilogue from the Chief Scientist that appears on the victory screen in 1.5? Just finished the game from an old save to test it, and didn't have it. Strings.xml has the text though...

also, is it just my imagination or wasn't there plans to move bleeding damage to the end of player turn?

Edited by Skitso
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